2025 Tanzania Menlo Abroad

 (Note: This video was posted on yesterday's blog. But for those who haven't seen it, here it is again.)

What’s-up families! Today we started the day with a bright and early start after a night with clear skies, hazy sunsets, and vividly bright stars. We had breakfast at the Banjika School and said goodbye to our homestay siblings as we embarked on our weekend retreat to Arusha. The bus ride was bumpin’ with great vibes as we jammed to upbeat tunes. On our way we had a baboon sighting off the side of the road before reaching our walking safari tour location. As we trickled off the bus we saw a 7/8’s naked tribal man sprinting and hooting towards us in the distance. This man was Didi, and he was our phenomenal tour guide. As he led us through the bush, he gave us periodic stops and gave us vivid descriptions of the local flora and fauna along walk. Suddenly in the distance he pointed out a giraffe!! We spent time taking photos and learning about the medicinal benefits of the acacia trees they eat. The highlight of the safari was the herd of elephants surrounding our bus. We observed the el...

  Because we do two check ins with the group every day covering the full range of health and wellness topics, I feel we have a good sense of how our folks (your kids) are doing. In general, they are doing well: everyone is drinking enough water and eating well; their bowels are moving freely (as Holden Caulfield would say), and they are getting along with each other very well.   The biggest challenge is that we are all tired.    Why? Well, we wake up early. Villagers start their day early (and go to be fairly late) and sound – of cooking, cleaning pots and pans, heating up water -- really carries in the small houses.  The houses are in full swing by 6:00 or 6:30 and we get to school around 7:45.   sleepy boys Several of us have babies in the house who cry in the night (remember those days?). Two in our group have rosters in the family. At one house, they bring the rooster inside to keep him safe from the cats. He starts his day at 3:00 am. That is...

  What-up, its McVeiny and Merk (Cole and Merrick) in the kitchen. Today was relatively chill, as we visited a small NGO (Non-government Organization) where they take care of physically disabled people of all ages. With them, we made bracelets out of beads and fish wire, along with necklaces, and gourd lanterns. Many of us made jewelry for you guys back home so get excited, (some are better than others). The disabled people taught us how to stencil out the gourds and then drill holes in them to make art. At the end of the visit, the man in charge of the organization gifted us a Menlo-stenciled handmade gourd and Menlo bracelets for all. On the bus ride home, we jammed out to some tunes, mainly the song “Summer” by Calvin Harris among other hype songs. We then ate lunch together back at Banjika school and had time to play cards, make bracelets from the string Murohn and Nolmeister brought, and bond with our comrades by tossing the pigskin around. Later, before going home, we reflect...

     Here is an idea for those of you who want to deepen your connection with your child’s Karatu homestay experience: take a bucket shower.  You might think a bucket shower sounds easy – all you need is some water and soap & shampoo, and the force of gravity. Okay, if it is so easy, take the challenge: 1. Wake up 2-5 hours earlier than your growing adolescent body would normally wake up 2. Go to a room that is about the size of a midsized closet, with a small drain in the floor. (For some of us that room also includes the squat toilet) 3. Hang your towel and clothes unto nails on the wall 4. You get a bucket of very hot water and a bucket (or faucet) of cold water.  5. Use the large cup with a handle to mix the water to make the water you pour on your body a suitable temperature. 6. Wet yourself 7. Lather up – you can start head-first or torso-first, your call 8. Rinse 9. Dry yourself off  10. Then you have to attend to the fact tha...

  Heyyyyy! We’re back! It’s Miller (Milla) and Big EL (Elsa) here writing the blog for today! As always, today was amazing. We kicked off the day with our typical walk to school, where we all hope a magical bus will appear along the way to pick us up. Lucky for Big EL and Alexa, we got a sweet ride. After eating breakfast consisting of many delicious “half cakes” (sweet bread-like treats), we quickly left to go to our first NGO, the FAME (Foundation for American Medicine and Education) hospital. We were greeted by Saidi, one of the hospital’s management workers. We then got an INCREDIBLE story from Frank, a doctor and the person who started the hospital. Frank originally was from the United States, but when visiting Mount Kilimanjaro with his wife, had a near-death experience that inspired him to start a hospital in Tanzania. He dropped all of his things from home and moved all the way to Tanzania to start a hospital in Karatu. We were able to ask many questions, which led him to t...

Hey Hey Hay! It’s Krista and Eleanor better known as Krispy and Kegg. We wanted to start off with the most memorable part of the day, Adrian (the newly 17 year old) slaughtering a chicken. But before that, let’s rewind. We got a late start today at 8:00am with lots of rain to accompany us on our walks to school. Once we arrived, we had our second breakfast and tea. Aaaaand our new favorite snack: mandazi. Imagine a doughnut and a beignet combined to create a fluffy masterpiece. Now to the most eventful part of the day. We took a cooking class on Tanzanian food. The first step was acquiring our chickens, which we caught yesterday in front of the whole school. The next step was the slaughtering… Adrian was the first and only volunteer, however in total five chickens lost their lives today. We’re going to skim over the next gruesome steps of defeathering, skinning, and opening the chicken. Finally, we finished off the cooking class with shucking corn, cutting vegetable, and boiling rice. ...

Hamjambo! (Hello everyone!) It’s your girls Sophia Longinidis and Sophie Michel (aka Long and Mitch). Today we had another amazing day at Banjika School.  We were woken up by the sounds of chickens squawking, birds chirping, cows mooing, and mamas cooking. We started the day off with a nice walk through agricultural fields---where corn, onions, pumpkin, and spinach are grown---on the way to school. When we arrived at school, we were greeted with a warm breakfast: pancakes, potatoes, beans, tea, and coffee. After, we had some free time where we played Slap Jack, B.S., Uno, and made friendship bracelets. Let’s just say a couple fingernails were broken during an aggressive ‘Slap Jack’ round. Then we completed an activity on the seventeen ‘Sustainable Development Goals’, where we ranked the importance of each goal in small groups. We then created our own goal for the future of the planet, as well as decided where individual happiness stood among other developmental goals. We took anoth...

 Here is bonus posting from John giving some background information about the rhythm of our days here. The first chapter – staying in hotels and getting to know each other – seems long ago, and now we spend the entire day at Banjika School before we head home for the homestays. As of this writing, we are two nights into the homestays (although it feels like it has been longer than that, because we have spent so much time with our host brothers and sisters that we are feeling quite comfortable with them). Things are going well. Those who reported awkwardness on the first night now report things are going even better.  Extensive time together has a way of melting away shyness and language barriers. We are also comfortable on the Banjika campus. We have our own classroom, which is where we have our meetings and eat our meals. It is home base. We know where the bathrooms are; during breaks the soccer ball and football are always in use; all the people here – students and teachers ...

 Wassup diggity dawgs, it’s Adrian(Adriano) and Cole(McVeiny), Wow. It has now been our first official day at Banjika school.  Menlo students were to wake up early -- wake up times were variable but around 6:00 am -- and head on to the school. Some students lived close (<10 minutes) and some lived farther(~30 minutes) walking.  The walk, to say the least-were beautiful, as we felt the cool wind and witness the luscious landscape. It’s safe to say this was one of the colder mornings in Africa. Despite the group being a little tired we lined up along the classrooms while the students at Banjika School demonstrated a military-like formation as they sung the Tanzanian national anthem and raised the national flag. The the Banjika students sang a song, and then we were then asked to sing a song. We had prepared prior to coming to the school Riptide by Vance Joy (editors’ note: not our best selection). Breakfast consisted of a typical Tanzanian breakfast with tea/coffee, saus...

This is just a test post to see if our internet connection at Banjika will work. This am, the whole school came out to greet us in a lovely flag raising and welcoming ceremony.  And we all got a chance to introduce ourselves more later....  

  Hi Tanzania Menlo Abroad Families! Today was our last morning at our hotel, and our first night at our home-stays! This morning we enjoyed a nice late breakfast as we packed our bags to embark on a new journey. We passed time before our bus ride by playing 16-person games of Uno and getting last minute information on our home-stays. After, we all visited the school for lunch and bonding time with our home-stay siblings, where we played soccer and other fun games. Next was a visit to a large local market that is run twice a month. At the markets we enjoyed negotiating for fake designer brands and treating our home-stay siblings to snacks, clothing, and any other necessities. The final activity before heading to our new destinations was watching the African Cup final between Simba Soccer Club (Tanzanian Team) and a Moroccan team. To wrap up our day we all head off to our home-stay houses to a warm welcome for our first night.  Best, Shaan Parikh (Shuga), and Ethan Shapero (E-S...

 Hi all! As you know, your incredible kids met their homestay siblings today and had a great day bonding even further with a walk around Karatu and a fun time back at the hotel. Enjoy the pics of the pairings! Adrian and Michael Merrick and Samwel Eleanor and Jackline M Marissa and Vaileth Krista and Noela  Sophie and Emiliana  Alexa and Petronila  Ethan and Brayson  Milla and Jackline P Murohn and Rita  Elsa and Halima Sophia and Monica  Sam and Gideon P  Shaan and Issa  Cole and Gideon L Andrew and Amani  Afternoon fun together at the pool And playing cards  And basketball Saying goodbye for the day When in Tanzania…⚽️ Marshmallows to end the evening!